Multiple option electronic scheduler and rescheduler

ABSTRACT

An electronic rescheduler for promptly and efficiently rescheduling appointments in a two part procedure. In the first step, there is an initial selection of one or more different time periods or &#34;options&#34; during which a new, replacement appointment would be desired; and, in resonse, the electronic rescheduler reports a listing of free time slots that are available within the selected &#34;options&#34;. In the second, and final step, one of the reported free time slots is chosen for the new appointment, and is entered into the rescheduler to complete the rescheduling operation. A number of such &#34;options&#34; are made available, including &#34;morning&#34; or &#34;afternoon&#34; appointments, the &#34;earliest&#34; available time, and others. For office use, the electronic rescheduler can be configured as a desk top unit positioned alongside a telephone, and coupled to the phone. It may include a display screen, printer, and audible announcer, for voice response over the phone; as well as a keyboard for the various entries and selections.

STATEMENT OF THE INVENTION

This invention generally relates to improvements in electronicscheduling of appointments; and more particularly, to cancelling orrescheduling prior appointments to new dates and times.

BACKGROUND AND PRIOR PATENTS

In a family of earlier patents, and pending applications, including U.S.Pat. No. 4,162,610 and Reissue No. 32,655; U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,548,510;4,769,796; 4,783,800, and others, there are disclosed a number ofdifferent electronic schedulers and systems for more efficientlymanaging the use of time by both individuals and businesses. In suchschedulers, a number of appointments are entered and stored in a memoryfor a number of different time periods in the future, and are retainedin retrievable form as a rapidly accessable record of a user or usersfuture committments. At the convenience of the user, the schedules ofappointments for any selected time period, or periods, are selectivelyretrieved from the memory and communicated by any one of a visualdisplay, a printed record, or an audible announcement. Alternatively, oradditionally, a subschedule of free or available time slots areselectively determined from the memory, for any selected future timeperiod, to assist the user in making, and confirming, a new appointmentin the future.

Additionally, in such earlier patents and applications, any of theappointments stored in the memory can be randomly cancelled orrescheduled, by erasing the memory for that time slot and reentering anew appointment for a different time.

However, the occurance of an unexpected event, such as an emergencyevent, or other of greater priority, often makes it necessary for anoffice to cancel an entire series of appointments on a given day, ortime period, and to reschedule each of such cancelled appointments toother times that are more convenient, and available to both parties.

Conversely, it is often necessary that an individual scheduled for anappointment with an office, is required to cancel that appointment, orreschedule it to a different time. The rescheduling of suchappointments, whether by a office, or an individual, is often difficultand time consuming, particularly where the office is very busy,receiving many calls daily, and dealing with many persons during atypical working day. Furthermore, where the need arises to cancel orreschedule an appointment arises at a time after normal business hours,the prior appointment is often missed, or the rescheduling is delayeduntil that office reopens for busines on the following business day,often inconveniencing the individual or the office. Rescheduling anentire series of appointments for a day, or other time period, is oftena particularly difficult an time consuming chore for many busy offices,such as those of Chiropractors, Dentists, Attorneys, and otherprofessional and business persons, whose active practices include manyappointments with different persons during a typical working day.Present practice followed requires that an office employee, such as anurse, or receptionist, or appointment clerk, telephone each suchpatient, client, or customer, and individually reschedule each suchperson for a new appointment at a different time that is convenient tothat person and also available to that office. Quite often the multipleappointment rescheduling is very time consuming, often resulting in"doubling up" of appointments, or prolonging the office visit to a datein the future other than that desired by the patient, client, or otherperson.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the present invention, an electronic rescheduler isprovided to enable an office to more easily and promptly reschedule anappointment, or an entire group of appointments; or to enable anindividual to more easily and conveniently reschedule an appointment, orcancel it, with an office, regardless of whther that office is open forbusiness or not when the need for such cancellation or reschedulingarises.

In one preferred embodiment for group rescheduling, the officeindividually calls each person , whose appointment is to be cancelled orrescheduled, and with the assistance of the present invention, rapidlyand efficiently locates a new appointment time, if available, that isconvenient to both that person and the office. This is performed byoffering to each such person a series of "options" or time periods, thatare convenient for a new appointment, and then having such person choosefrom the free or available time slots, within the chosen time period,that one appointment time that best meets the needs of that person. Oneof the many "options" that is offered is the available or free timeslots that are closest in time to the prior appointment time beingrescheduled. Other "options" include the earliest available group of"morning" free time slots. Still another "option", is the earliestavailable group of free time slots occuring in the "afternoon". Still afourth "option" is the earliest available group of free time slots for aspecified time-of-day. Still further options can be provided, such asthose for a specified day; or specified day of the week; or for aspecified day of the month.

Having made an initial selection of a desired "option" or time period,the person to be rescheduled is quickly given the one or more free timeslots, that are available within the chosen "option"; and can thereafterdesignate the best one of the free time slots for the new appointment.If a suitable free time slot is not found, that person is permitted toselect a different "option", or time period, and the above procedure isrepeated to find a new satisfactory appointment time. By use of thepresent invention, the above steps can be very quickly performed, tocomplete the rescheduling in a short time.

Where an individual initiates a request to cancel or reschedule anappointment, the present invention operates in the same manner. Theoffice presents the individual with a series of "options" or timeperiods, in order to narrow the time periods involved; and thereafternotifies the individual with one, or more free or available time slots,if any, within the selected "option" period, for a final selection ofthe preferred reappointment time.

In an alternative embodiment of the invention, the individual is notrequired to make a selection from a series of free or available timeslots, but the electronic rescheduler automatically makes the finalselection from the one or more free time slots, if any, that areavailable. This embodiment is useful where the individual does not haveany specific preference for a free time slot, but can accept any freetime within a specified "option" or time period. The individualtherefore, merely selects an "option", or time period, and theelectronic rescheduler locates and communicates one free time slotwithin that selected period, in the event that one is available.

In a still further embodiment of the invention, the canceling ofappointments or rescheduling to a new appointment time can be performedover the telephone in an semi-automatic manner without the need for anyperson at the receiving end of the line, such as an office secretary orclerk. This is performed by employing an interactive, communicatingsystem, for audibly instructing each caller whose appointment is to becancelled or rescheduled, in the procedure to be followed, andpermitting each such caller to respond using the convention keys on thetelephone keypad. Each such caller is instructed to select, and enter, apreferred one of the "options" or time periods, as discussed above, andin response, to receive an audible announcement over the telephone ofthe free time slots that are available. The caller is then instructed tochoose a desired one of said free time slots, and to enter such finalselection using the conventional telephone keys on the keypad.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an electrical schematic drawing depicting a reschedulingapparatus according to the invention,

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the display on the visual display panelfor rescheduling a group of appointments,

FIG. 3 is a view of the display, similar to FIG. 2, but showingdifferent "options" for selection of a rescheduled appointment,

FIG. 4 is an electrical schematic illustration, showing automaticrescheduling over the telephone,

FIG. 5 is an electrical schedmatic illustration showing modifications tothe circuit of FIG. 1 for automatic selection of a single free timeslot, during any selected "option",

FIG. 6 is an electrical schematic illustration of typical circuitinterconnections for the different "option" selections,

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Group Rescheduling byOffice

Referring to FIG. 1 there is shown one preferred apparatus forcancelling or rescheduling one, or more appointments, that have beenpreviously stored in a memory 22, by day, time-of-day, and person etc.As noted above, it is often found necessary to reschedule an entireseries of appointments where a key person at that office is called awayon an emergency, or for other reason is unable to keep suchappointments.

As shown, the rescheduler generally comprises a multiple key keypad, orkeyboard ; a series of individually selectable read-out circuits 12, 14,16, 18, 20, and 30; an electronic memory 22 for storing a series ofappointments each day for a series of different days, and for a seriesof different persons; and a series of different output devices,including a visual display panel 23, a printer 24, and an audibleannouncer 25. In a typical office environment, the apparatus of FIG. 1may be a dedicated desk-top unit, located on the desk of theReceptionist for that office, or the Nurse, Appointment SchedulingClerk, or other office employee, and having the large display screen 23,keyboard 10 located near the telephone. The office employee cantherefore quickly and efficiently use the apparatus to cancel orreschedule appointments in response to phone calls, or in response to arequest from a business visitor at that office.

Each of the different read-out circuits 12, 14, 16 etc. is selectivelyenergizable by its own individual switch circuit 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, and29, respectively, and when energized, each such read-out circuit isadapted to interrogate the memory 22, according to a different "option",mode, or time period, thereby to locate one or more free time slots thatare available for a future appointment within the selected time periodor "option". For example, the first read-out circuit 12 interrogates thememory 22 for two days before, and two days after, the day of theappointment to be rescheduled, and to read-out all of the free oravailable time slots within said four days, if any, for assistance inmaking a new appointment. The free time slots are displayed on thevisual panel 23, and/or printed by printer 24, and/or audibly announcedby output device 25.

A second of the read-out circuits 14, differently interrogates thememory 22 according to a different "option", mode, or time period, toread-out all of the free time slots, if any, that are available duringthe "morning" hours for a series of days immediately preceeding andsucceeding the day of the previous appointment. In a similar manner, thethird read-out circuit 16 also differently interrogated the memory 22 toobtain the free time slots, if any that are available in the "afternoon"time periods. A number of other individual read-out circuits, including18, 20, 30, etc. may also be provided, with each differentlyinterrogating the memory 22 according to a different "option" to derivefree time slots, if any, that are available during still differentperiods. Many such different "options" can be used according to thepresent invention, including a preferred day of the week, or of themonth; the same time-of-day but on a different day; or at a specifiedother time-of-day; etc. Separate read-out circuits can be provided foreach of these "options", or others, for interrogating the memory 22.

Quite often, persons whose appointments must be rescheduled by an officeprefer a new appointment at the earliest possible time, or one closestin time to the prior appointment. Another group may only be availablefor a new appointment in the "morning hours", or "afternoon hours", oron a "selected day", or a selected "time-of-day" etc. For this reason,the present invention provides a number of different "options" forselection by the person to be rescheduled, so that that person needconsider only the free time slots within the preferred time period or"option". Furthermore by this procedure, a comprehensive memory 22containing many appointments for many persons, and extending over manydays, can be quickly and efficiently interrogated, only for the specificperiods of interest.

FIG. 2 illustrates a typical visual presentation on the display panel 23where the office employee wishes to reschedule all of the appointmentson the day of Aug. 25, 1989, and initially selects the first "option".Initially, the employee enters the day of Aug. 25, 1989 followed bydepressing a key on the keyboard labeled "Reschedule". Thereafter, theemployee closes one of the "option" switches, such as switch 11, therebythe read-out circuit 12 to select the first "option", e.g. locating annew appointment times that are closest in time to the prior appointmentsto be rescheduled. Referring to FIG. 2, the first, or left hand column35, on display screen 23 shows the entire day, or other time period tobe rescheduled (e.g. Aug. 25, 1989), followed by a series of appointmenttimes for that day (e.g. in the example given, 9:00 AM; 10:30 AM; and3:15 PM ). The second column 36 of the display 23 shows the names andphone numbers of the persons whose appointments are listed in the firstcolumn 35, and each is positioned alongside the prior appointment time.

Since many persons usually wish a new appointment time close to theprevious appointment, the office employee often selects the firstread-out circuit 12, as noted above. The memory 22 is accordinglyinterrogated by circuit 12 to read-out the free time slots that areavailable on each of the two days prior , and two days after, theselected day of Aug. 25, 1989. The next column 37 of display 23 shows alisting of all such free time slots, if any, on the second day earlier,or on Aug. 24, 1989. In a similar manner, the next two columns 39 and 40of display 23 show any free time slots on the two days afterward, orAug. 26, 1989 and Aug. 27, 1989, respectively.

The office employee then proceeds to telephone the first person to berescheduled (e.g. T. Jones, in FIG. 1), and informs T. Jones of thevarious "options" that are available for a new appointment, togetherwith a request to make a selection or choice of one or more of such"options". In the event that T. Jones wishes the earliest availableappointment, as is usually a request, the office employee consults thecolumns 37, 38, 39, and 40 on the display 23, and offers any one of thedisplayed free time slots for a new appointment. If any one is found tobe acceptable, a new appointment is entered for T. Jones at such time,using the keyboard 10, and the prior appointment on Aug. 25, 1989 iserased.

The office employee then proceeds to telephone the next person to berescheduled (e.g. T. Swift in FIG. 1 ), and repeats the above procedure,to quickly and efficiently locate and enter a new rescheduledappointment for T. Swift. However, in the event that T. Jones or T.Swift desires a different "option" or "options" (e.g. only "morning"appointment, or one only at a specific time-of-day, for example ), theoffice employee opens the switch 11 and closes the corresponding one, ormore, of the other "option" selecting switches (FIG. 1) 13, 15, 17, 19,29 etc., corresponding to the preferences of that person, and the freetime slots, if any, corresponding to the selected "options" aredisplayed as shown in FIG. 3.

Referring to FIG. 3, and assuming that five (5) different options areselected by a person, each of switches 13, 15, 17, 19, and 29 are closedby the office employee. The memory 22 is accordingly interrogated infive different modes, or "options", and the resulting free time slotsfor each "option" are displayed on a different column 41, 42, 43, 44,and 45 of the display 23, as shown in FIG. 3. Referring to FIG.3, thefirst column 41 is shown as displaying free time slots that areavailable during "morning" hours. The second column 43 shows the"afternoon" availabilities, whereas the next columns 43, 44, and 45 showthose on the same day of the week; the same time-of-day; and on aselected day of the month, respectively. With this great diversity beingavailable, it is very likely that each person to be rescheduled canquickly find a suitable day and time for a new appointment, and do soquickly, whereby the office can quickly and easily reschedule itscomplete series of prior appointments on the designated day.

Briefly recapitulating the above described structure andmode-of-operation, to rapidly reschedule a series of appointments for anentire day or other time period, the office employee promptly obtains adisplay, or printout, of all such appointments to be changed, togetherwith the persons and phone numbers corresponding to such appointments,using the keyboard 10. The office employee also initially may choose themost popular "option" (e.g. of earliest appointment), by closing switch11 and interrogating the memory 22 by read-out circuit 12. As a result,there is provided on the display 23, a listing of free time slots for aseries of days before, and a series of days after, the day to berescheduled. Each of the persons to be rescheduled are then telephoned,in sequence, by one or more office employees, and are requested tochoose an "option" for reappointment, and subsequently choose, a freetime slot within said selected "option". Many such different "options"are provided, and more than one can be chosen to meet the alternative orpriority needs of each person. Since many persons wish the earliestavailable appointment time, close to the prior appointment, a newappointment can often be made using the first display (FIG. 2)corresponding to the first "option". However, if not, the many otheroptions can be chosen, as described in FIG. 3, whereby each person to berescheduled can usually be accomodated in a timely and efficient manner.

FIG. 6 illustrates further details of one circuit for implementing theseries of different read-out circuits 12,14, 16, 18, 20 etc., as shownin FIG. 1. It will be appreciated by those skilled in tha art, that thememory circuit 22 shown in the drawings may be only one section,covering a time period of one day, and that many of such circuits, usingmicrochips, will be required for an office system that is used forstoring many days of appointments, for a number of different persons inan office (e.g. a clinic of doctors, or a firm of lawyers etc.). Thecircuit of FIG. 6 will therefore be duplicated, and extended, to meetthe needs of different office users. Referring to FIG. 6, a series ofshift re.g.ister circuits 71, 72 . . . , are energized by a clockcircuit 70, to sequentially cycle and provide a time delayed sequence ofoutput pulses, on the many output lines of each re.g.ister circuit 71,72 . . . Each of such output lines is directed through a differentgating circuit 73, 74, 75, 76 . . . for register 71, and similarly, theoutput lines of register 72 are each directed to a different gatingcircuit 77, 78, 79, 80 all leading to the memory microchips 22. Sinceeach of these output lines are energized in sequence from each of theregisters, each of the different gating circuits are likewise energizedin sequence. The outputs of the gating circuits are each directed todifferent "addresses" inputs of the memory microchips 22; and thereforeeach of the different memory addresses is sequentially interrogated,depending upon those of the gating circuits that are energized to beclosed. Conversely, those of the gating circuits that are not energizeddo not interrogate the corresponding addresses of the memory 22.

The first of the Read out circuits 81 is connected to energize onlyselected ones of gating circuits leading to selected ones of theaddresses of the memory 22. According to the present invention, thefirst read-out circuit 81 (or 12 in FIG. 1), is connected to interrogateonly the two days before and two days after the day to be rescheduled.Therefore, this read out circuit 81 when energized by closure of itsswitch 83, closes only the gating circuits for interrogating thesedesired days of the memory 22.

By using the appropriate entry keys on keyboard 10, the office employeeinitially enters the day or other time period to be rescheduled, andthis selection chooses the proper section of a multisectional memory 22to be interrogated. Thereafter by closing the switch 83 to choose thefirst "option", the addresses of the memory 22, for the two days beforeand two days after, are interrogated to read-out the free time slots forthese four days.

The other read-out circuits, including circuit 82 are connected todifferent groups of the gating circuits, and when energized, control thesequential interrogation of different groups of addresses of the memory22, thereby to provide the different "options" as described above. Thus,one of the read-out circuits , when energized, controls theinterrogation of the "morning" time slots in the memory 22; anothercontrols the interrogation of "afternoon" time slots; still anotherinterrogates for a still different "option", all as discussed above. Itwill be appreciated by those skilled in the art, that if more than one"option" is selected, it may be necessary to actuate the differentread-out circuits in time sequence. This is performed by option circuitsby employing additional shift re.g.ister circuits (not shown) tosequentially control the application of power to each of the differentread-out circuits. One such additional shift re.g.ister 87 is shown inFIG. 6 for sequentially energizing the read-out circuits 85 and 82.

Cancellation or Rescheduling by an Individual

The cancellation or rescheduling of an appointment, or appointments, atthe initiative of an individual is performed in essentially the samemanner as that performed at the initiative of an office, as discussedabove. The individual may personally appear at the office, or may callover the telephone.

In either instance, that person provides the office with the date, ordates, of prior appointments to be cancelled or rescheduled, and suchappointments are entered into the keyboard 10. If the appointment is tobe rescheduled, that person is instructed to select a preferred "option"or time period that is most desired; or a series of such "options" asdiscussed above. This selection of an option, or options, is enteredinto the rescheduler by closing the appropriate switch, or switches, 11,13, 15, 17, 19, 27, etc. (FIG. 1); and the resulting free time slots aredisplayed on the display screen 23, and/or printed at 24; and/orannounced by the audible announcer 25. A final selection of one, ormore, of such displayed free time slots is then made by that person andentered into the memory 22, using the keyboard 10. Where that person haspersonally appeared at the office, the rescheduler apparatus may beoperated by that person, using available printed instructions, withoutthe need for assistance by an office employee. Alternatively, an officeemployee can assist in the cancelling or rescheduling , if necessary.

On the other hand, where that person is calling over the telephone for acancellation or rescheduling of one or more prior appointments, theoffice employee can use the voice announcer 25 to vocally inform thecaller of the free time slots that are available, and enter the various"option" selections, and final selections of new appointments.

Automatic Selection of New Appointments

In the event that it is not necessary to give the person to berescheduled with a complete listing of all free time slots duringselected "options" or time periods, one or more new appointments can belocated in an automatic manner, using the circuitry of FIG. 1, and thenew appointments given to the person and entered into the memory 22 ofthe rescheduler.

Referring to FIG. 5, the person to be rescheduled is initiallyinstructed to select one or more different "options" or time periods,and such selections are entered by closing the appropriate one, or onesof the option switches 11, 13 etc. (FIG. 1), in the same manner asdiscussed above, to interrogate the memory 22 and read-out the free oravailable time slots, if any, during such "option" periods. However, inthe circuit of FIG. 5, the output channel of memory 57 is coupled infeedback, over line 69, to control gate 66. Control gate 66 is, in turn,coupled to the mode or "option" read-out circuit 60, to discontinueinterrogation by the read-out circuit 60 after a first free time slot islocated, and outputted from the memory 57. In operation, when such anautomatic selection is desired, the, switch 65 is closed, thereby toactuate the control gate 66. The selected "option" choosing switch 68 isthen closed, according to the preference of the person beingrescheduled, and this commences an interrogation of the memory 57 forthe desired option, or options, selected. Thereafter upon the first freetime slot being located during such interrogation, and outputted to thedisplay 67, and/or audible announcer 58, a feedback signal is generatedover line 69 to control gate 66 to discontinue any further interrogationof the memory 57. As a result, the first available free time slot isautomatically selected for a new appointment, during each sequence ofoperations of the circuit of FIG. 5. Should additional appointments bedesired to be rescheduled for such person, the above sequence ofoperations are repeated for each such prior appointment.

Automatic Cancelling or Rescheduling Over the Telephone

In earlier U.S. Pat. No. 4,783,800, there is disclosed a system forenabling a caller to make, and confirm, an appointment over thetelephone without the need for any person at the other end. According toan alternative embodiment of the present invention, there is provided inFIG. 4 a system for enabling a caller to reschedule a previously madeappointment over the telephone, without the need for any person at thereceiving end of the telephone line.

Referring to FIG. 4, a caller at a receiving end of telephone line 52places a call to a business or professional office at the remote end ofline 52, with the intention of cancelling or rescheduling one, or more,prior appointments. This call is automatically intercepted by thetelephone handset 51 and telephone answering device 53, in aconventional fashion, and activates a timer and control circuit 55 toenergize a voice instruction unit 56. Voice unit 56 acknowledges thecall, and audibly inquires whether the caller wishes to either make anew appointment, or to cancel a prior appointment, or to reschedule aprior appointment. The caller is requested to choose the desired one ofthese three functions, by depressing the appropriate one of the threenumbered keys "1", or "2", or "3", on the caller's telephone keypad.

In the event that the caller wishes to make a new appointment, theappropriate one of the telephone keys is depressed, to signal suchselection, and thereafter the procedure described in the above earlierpatent is followed to automatically make, and confirm, a newappointment. In the event that the Caller only wishes to cancel one ormore prior appointments, the appropriate one of the telephone keys forsuch selection is depressed. The voice unit 56 then instructs the callerto enter the date and time of the prior appointment to be cancelled; andthereafter to dictate the caller's name, address, phone number, and thedate of the prior appointment being cancelled. This audible informationfrom the caller is recorded by recorder 61; and then is audibly playedback over the telephone 51, to the caller, to protect against anyerrors. To avoid errors, or misuse of this automatic system, an officeemployee places a confirming telephone call to that Caller to confirmthe correctness of the previous cancellation. If correct, the officeemployee then cancells the previous appointment in the memory 92. In theevent that more than one prior appointment is to be cancelled by acaller, after completion of each above entry, the instruction unit 56advises the caller to signal whether additional actions are to be taken(by depressing an appropriate number key on the keyboard) and, if so,the above sequence of operations is repeated.

In the event that the appropriate number key is initially depressed, orlater after a first sequence is completed, thereby signaling that thecaller wishes to reschedule a prior appointment to a different time andor day, the voice unit 56 vocally instructs the caller about thedifferent procedure to be followed. Initially, the caller is instructed,by the voice unit 56, to enter the day and time of the prior appointmentusing the appropriate ones of the keys on the caller's telephonehandset. This digital number is received by control unit 55, and voiceunit 56 is then controlled to audibly repeat this day and time over thephone line 52, back to the caller, to insure against any error. Thisprior appointment is then entered into the memory 92, in the event it isconfirmed by the caller (depressing the appropriate designated key).

The caller is then instructed by the voice unit 55, to select a desiredone, or more, of the "options" available for a new appointment, asdiscussed above, by depressing the designated one, or ones, of thetelephone keys, corresponding to the various "options". Thus the callercan select the earliest available free time slot; or an available one inthe "morning" hours, or "afternoon" hours; or any of the othersdiscussed above. The control circuit 56 again responds to receiving eachof these digital commands from the caller, to automatically select thecorresponding one, or ones, of the read-out circuits 93, 59 etc. In thesame manner as discussed above, the memory 92 is sequentiallyinterrogated by each of the selected read-out circuits 93, 59 etc. , andthe free time slots for each of such "option" or time period, areaudibly announced over the phone line by the audible announcer 91coupled to the memory 92. This audible announcement of the free timeslots is preferably repeated, to insure that the caller receives thedesired information.

The voice instruction unit 56 is thereafter activated to instruct thecaller in making a final selection from those announced as beingavailable for a new appointment. The rescheduled appointment day andtime are subsequently repeated over the phone 51, to confirm thecorrectness of the selection, and are recorded at 61, for subsequentcall back and further confirmation by an office employee, as discussedabove.

If desired, the number of free time slots announced over the phone maybe limited for any selected "option" by employing the circuit of FIG. 5,discussed above. The number announced can be limited to only one as inFIG. 5; or two, three, or more, as might be desired. If more than one isdesired, a counter circuit (not shown), may be interconnected in thefeedback line 69 (FIG. 5), to count a predetermined number of responsesfrom the output of memory 57, before discontinuing the read out of thememory 57 for that selected option.

Simplified Automatic Rescheduling of Appointments

It Has been found that many callers that are inexperienced in the use ofkeyboards for data processing, and other functions, find it difficult tomake, cancel, or reschedule appointments over the phone, in an automaticmanner using the keys on the keypad as discussed above. Such personsfind it particularly difficult to use more than one key on the keyboard,to enter, in sequence, both day, time-of-day, and/or other data. Forthis reason, the following alternative embodiment of the invention, isprovided to permit a caller to perform any of the above describedfunctions by depressing only one numbered key in response to eachdifferent instruction.

Referring again to FIG. 4, this alternative embodiment is performed byhaving the voice unit 56 issue many more instructions, and requiring thecaller to repond to each by using only a single key for each response.In operation, a call is responded to by the rescheduler in the samemanner by instructing the caller to select one of the three keys "1","2", or "3" to make a new appointment, cancel a prior appointment, orreschedule a prior appointment. If the call is to reschedule, the voiceunit 56 audibly announces the present day (e.g. Thursday, Jul. 21), andrequests the caller to select a new day for appointment, by depressing anumber key corresponding to the day for the new appointment. Forexample, if an appointment is desired for the next day, the caller isinstructed to depress the "1" key (for the next day). If for the dayafter, the caller is instructed to depress the number key "2". If forthe third day after the present, the caller is requested to depress thenumber "3". Each such digital number is received by control 55 whichthereupon selects a corresponding one of the read-out circuits 59 or 93or . . . , to interrogate the memory 92 for that day, and read-out thefree or available time slots on that day. These free time slots areannounced over the phone by the audible output 91.

The caller is then requested by the voice instruction unit 56 to choosea suitable new appointment time from those announced as being available,(for example, only three free time slots may be announced), by selectingone of the three numbers "1", "2", or "3", that correspond to the threepreviously announced free time slots.

The voice unit 56 then audibly confirms the selections by the caller byannouncing the day and time-of-day, of the previous selections, andrequests the caller to confirm the correctness of this new appointmentby depressing the key number "9" if correct, or the key "0", ifincorrect. If the new appointment is confirmed to be correct, the calleris requested to dictate his name, phone, address, and new appointment,and an office employee later calls back to confirm the new appointment,and to obtain the date and time of the prior appointment to becancelled.

Simplified Telephone Appointment Rescheduling

In a further alternative embodiment, the system can be configured toenable a Caller to reschedule an appointment, or schedule a new one,using only the "0" or "one" number keys on the Caller's telephone,signifying a yes or no response to a series of inquiries.

Referring again to FIG. 4, a telephone call to the office according tothis embodiment results in a sequence of many more voice instructionsfrom unit 56 than before, with each such instruction or questionrequesting a "yes" or "no" response from the Caller, by the depressionof the "1" or "0" key, respectively.

A first question from unit 56 of the office, asks if the Caller wishesto cancel or reschedule a prior appointment, and if the response is tobe "yes", the Caller depresses the "1" key. This digital response isreceived, and the office scheduler then energizes the voice unit 56 toaudibly announce the day and time of the phone call and request whetherthe Caller wishes an appointment on the next day. If the Caller'sresponse is "yes", the office unit interrogates the section of memory 91for the next day, by read-out circuit such as 59, and reports a freetime slot, if any, that is available on that next day. This free timeslot is announced over the phone line by voice output circuit 91. Thevoice instruction unit 56 is then progressed to ask the Caller whetherthis free time slot is acceptable, and if so, the voice unit 56 repeatsthis time and date over the phone line and states that a new appointmenthas been rescheduled for this time. The voice unit 56 then asks theCaller to dictate the Caller's name, address, phone number, and priordate of appointment to be cancelled, and to repeat the new appointmenttime. This dictated information is recorded at the office recorder 61,enabling an office employee to subsequently call back the Caller on thenext business day, or during other business hour, to confirm therescheduled appointment to the new time, for that person.

On the other hand, if the Caller's response to any previous inquiry bythe office machine is a "no", the control circuit 55 alternativelyenergizes the voice unit 56 to issue a different audible inquiry orinstruction. For example, the voice unit 56 may ask whether the Callerwishes an appointment on the second day following the call. Thisprocedure is repeated for each "no" response with different "options"being offered in succession to the Caller until the Caller responds withan affirmative "yes". When this occurs, the appropriate read out circuitfor the selected "option" is energized to interrogate the chosen timeperiod in the memory 92. A free time slot, if any is available, isreported over the telephone to the Caller, and new appointment is made,as described above. If the reported free time slot is not accepted bythe Caller, the interrogation of the memory 92 is continued for theselected option, until an acceptable free time slot is located. If noneis found, the voice unit 56 asks the Caller to select a a differentoption, and the above sequence of steps is repeated until locating anacceptable new time for an appointment.

Following the above sequential procedure, the Caller selects a newappointment time using only "yes" or "no" responses. This newappointment time is announced by the voice unit 56 for confirmationpurposes, and the Caller is requested to confirm this time, and to thenaudibly dictate the Caller's identification and other information, asdiscussed above. This is recorded by the office recorder 61, to be laterconfirmed, by a callback, and, if confirmed, the new appointment time isentered into the memory 92 and the prior appointment is cancelled in thememory 92.

In a similar manner, the voice response unit 56 requests the Caller toselect other "options", as described above, including either a "morning"or "afternoon" appointment; or other desired one. These are allpresented in sequence, with a request after each such inquiry, for a"yes" or "no" response from the Caller. Once such a desired "option" islocated by this yes or no interactive procedure, the appropriate sectionof the memory is interrogated to locate and report the free time slotsthat are available, as described above. It will be understood, that anumber of such "options" can be presented within a reasonable time, to aCaller, to quickly locate an acceptable new time slot. If none can befound by this interactive procedure, the Caller is then instructed totelephone a different number and try to schedule a new appointment in aconventional manner with an office employee.

Portable Battery Powered Unit for Caller

As an alternative to the Caller using a telephone handset to make a newappointment or reschedule a prior appointment, a specialtransmitter-receiver unit can be provided for the Caller, and offeringmany advantages. Such a Caller's unit preferably includes a keyboard, avisual output display, and audible output announcer, and digitallyoperating tansmit and receive circuitry, for communicating over thetelephone line. Such a specialized Caller's unit may be provided as aseparate, hand held, battery powered unit connectable to a telephoneline or to a telephone by plug-in connection; or alternatively, beprovided as part of an inte.g.rally made unit and telephone. It may alsobe a dedicated unit for scheduling functions, with specially allocatedkeys on the keyboard, and a specially allocated visual display that isbest adapted to display appointment information.

In operation, such a Caller's unit interactively functions in a similarmanner with the office scheduler machine, as described above, but withadditional advantages. Among other, the specialized Caller's unit candisplay all of the instructions, messages, and free time slotinformation that is received over the telephone line from the officemachine, as well as audibly announcing such messages and data. Inaddition, it can display the present date and time from an internalclock, and can automatically send to the office machine, the Caller'sname, address, phone number, and other information from the Caller, forrecording by the office recorder 61 (FIG. 4).

All of the "options" offered by the Office machine can be displayed as asingle column on the Caller's display unit, with a different number foreach line of the column. To select any such "option", the Caller thenmerely needs to depress the appropriate number for that "option" and adigital message is sent back to the office machine for that selection.Similarly, the free time slots being reported by the office machine, asavailable during a selected option, can also be presented as one or morecolumns, on the Caller's display, with a different number for each lineon the column or columns. Again a Caller need only depress a singlenumber key to select any one of such free time slots, and a digitalmessage for that selection is sent back to the office machine over thetelephone line.

In the event that such a Caller's unit is dedicated to scheduling andrescheduling functions, dedicated keys of the keyboard may be allocatedto different days of the week; as well as other keys reserved fordifferent times-of-day. Depression of any such keys results in sending adigital message over the telephone line for that day or time.

Such a dedicated Caller's unit may also include automatic dialingcircuits (for the offices of Lawyers, Chiropractors, Dentists etc., withwhom appointments are to be made). It may also contain a clock, andcircuits for automatically transmitting the Caller's name, address, andother identifying data, such as charge card number, social securitynumber etc. Where the information is of a private nature, it would notbe automatically transmitted, but instead sent only by the Callerdepressing an appropriate key that controls the transmission of suchinformation. All of such data transmission circuitry greatly simplifiesthe procedure followed by a Caller in making or rescheduling anappointment in an automatic or semiautomatic manner over the telephone.

In operation of such a dedicated unit, the Caller need only initiallydepress a single key to call a desired office (e.g. Chiropractor). Uponthe call being completed, the Caller then need only depress a single keyto inform that office that it wishes to make a new appointment orreschedule a prior appointment. Depressing only one more key, thenproceeds to select a desired one of the various "options" or timeperiods, that is desired by the Caller. Digital messages (e.g. toneetc.) are received at the office machine for each of these selections,and the office memory is interrogated to report the free time slots thatare available from that office for a new appointment during that"option" period. The Caller then need only depress one more of the keysto select a preferred one of the free time slots for a new appointment,and this selection is digitally transmitted over the telephone line tothe office machine and entered into the memory, along with anidentification of the Caller that is automatically transmitted asdiscussed above. The Caller then depresses the appropriate one or morekeys to cancel a prior appointment.

All of the above described instructions, questions, messages, free timeslots, and selections thereof, are preferably displayed on the Caller'sdisplay screen as well as on the display screen in the office at theother end of the telephone line. Additionally, such information and datais audibly announced at both locations, and may be printed as a record,if desired.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that many changes andadditions may be made without departing from the spirit and scope ofthis invention; and that the various embodiments disclosed do not setforth the design features that are well known, and may be used incommercial products using this invention. For example, a preferredoffice machine may be provided as a desk top unit with large screendisplay, positionable alongside a receptionist's telephone exchange. Theinternal circuits and controls may be dedicated to scheduling andrescheduling functions, and others, so as to be user friendly by theleast experienced office employees. For example, the keys on thekeyboard may be dedicated to different days of the week, and other keysdedicated to different times of day; all being prominantly labeled forconvenience use by substantially untrained employees. Simplifiedinstructions can be provided in printed form, as well as in internal ROMcircuits, and accessed by any user for display on the visual screen;and/or by audible announcement. Such an office unit may alternatively becombined with the telephone handset, or telephone exchange, or beprovides as a separate standalone structure that is detachablyconnectable to the telephone line. The office machine may provide othercommunication functions that are useful to that office, and may outputother information by visual display, voice output or printing. Forcombined use by many persons in a firm, office, or clinic, the abovedescribed apparatus can be duplicated with additional memory, and othercontrols, and connected to time share a common display screen, audibleoutput, common instruction generator, and other components as described.For automatic or semi-automatic interactive operation, an initialinquiry of a user or Caller, can ask the user or Caller to select adesired one of those listed persons with whom an appointment is desired,and the office apparatus may then interrogate the correspondinglyallocated section of the memory for the free time slots of the selectedperson.

Since these and many other changes can be made by those skilled in theart, this invention is to be considered as being limited only by thefollowing claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. An electronic rescheduler for more efficientlyrescheduling a prior appointment to a new appointment time comprising:amemory for storing plural daily time appointments each day for amultiday time period, multiple differently configured interrogatingcircuits for the memory, manually operated switching means forindependently selecting different ones of said interrogating circuits,each such interrogating circuit accessing the memory for a differentunequal, fractional portion of a selected time period than the otherinterrogating circuits, and excluding the accessing of the memory forother periods within the selected daily time period, thereby to moreefficiently locate a new time-of-day for a rescheduled appointment,means entering into the rescheduler the prior appointment to berescheduled, read-out means responsive to the selected interrogatingcircuit for reading-out and communicating the free time slots that areavailable for a rescheduled appointment, from the accessed portion ofthe memory, cancelling means for cancelling the prior appointment andentering a new rescheduled appointment into the memory chosen from thefree time slots that are communicated as being available.
 2. In theelectronic appointment rescheduler of claim 1,said manually operatedswitching means enabling the selection of a plurality of said differentinterrogating circuits, to provide multiple different interrogations ofthe memory for a plurality of different time periods, a visual display,and said read-out means applying the free time slots obtained from theinterrogations by each of the different interrogating circuits to besubstantially concurrently displayed on the visual display.
 3. In theelectronic appointment rescheduler of claim 1,the addition of remotecontrol means for operating said manually operated switching means froma location remote from said rescheduler, and enabling the cancellationof a prior appointment and the entry of a rescheduled appointment fromsaid remote location.
 4. In the electronic appointment rescheduler ofclaim 1,the addition of control means for automatically discontinuingthe read-out means after reading-out one free time slot that isavailable for a new appointment.
 5. In the electronic appointmentrescheduler of claim 1, the addition of coupling means forinterconnecting the rescheduler to a telephone line, thereby to operatesaid switching means, cancelling means, and entry means over thetelephone from a remote location, and to communicate said free timeslots over the telephone from said rescheduler to said remote location.6. In the appointment rescheduler of claim 1, one of said interrogatingcircuits accessing the memory for time periods that are proximate thetime of the prior appointment to be rescheduled.
 7. In the electronicappointment rescheduler of claim 1, one of said interrogating circuitsaccessing the memory for hyphenated time periods that bracket the timeof the prior appointment to be rescheduled.
 8. An electronic appointmentrescheduler for selectively rescheduling any of a series of differentappointments for one or more persons or a single appointment for aperson,said rescheduler including a memory for storing pluralappointments; manually operated selection means and controls forentering appointments and cancelling appointments, and retrievingappointments; and including a visual display, said selection meansresponsive to the entry of a previously made appointment to berescheduled to display said appointment, communicating means foroffering a series of different options for promptly locating arescheduled appointment date, each of said options covering a differentdaily date period than the other options, each of said options alsocovering a different fractional portion of a daily time period that inunequal to that of the other options, said manually operated selectionand control means responsive to the selection of at least one of saidoptions to interrogate the memory for the period corresponding to thatselected option, to read-out and display the free time slots that areavailable within that selected period, and said selection and controlmeans responsive to the subsequent selection of an available free timeslot to enter a rescheduled appointment, and to cancel the previousappointment.
 9. In the appointment rescheduler of claim 37,saidselection and control means responsive to the substantially concurrentselection of a plurality of said different options to cumulativelyinterrogate the memory for the series of different, unequal timeperiods, corresponding to the selected options, to read-out andcumulatively communicate the free time slots that are available withinall of the selected options.
 10. In the electronic appointmentrescheduler of claim 9, the free time slots for all of the plurality ofdifferent options being concurrently displayed on the visual display ofthe rescheduler.
 11. In the electronic appointment rescheduler of claim3,the addition of coupling means for interconnecting the rescheduler toa telephone line, thereby to operate said rescheduler over the telephoneline from a remote location.
 12. In the electronic appointmentrescheduler of claim 8, one of said options covering a hyphenated timeperiod that brackets the time of the prior appointment beingrescheduled.
 13. In the electronic appointment rescheduler of claim 8,the addition of remote control means for operating said manuallyoperated selection means from a location remote from said rescheduler,and enabling the cancellation of a prior appointment and the entry of arescheduled appointment from said remote location.
 14. In an electronicgroup appointment rescheduler having a memory for storing appointments,a visual display for displaying appointments, and switch means foraccessing the memory to enter, read-out, and cancel appointments, theimprovement comprising:manually operating means for the switch means forentering and displaying on the visual display a group of priorappointments to be rescheduled to new appointment times, a plurality ofdifferent read-out circuits for selectively accessing the memory fordifferent unequal time periods, to rapidly locate available time slotsduring desired time periods, said unequal time periods including one ofdifferent fractional portions of a single day or days, and differenttimes-of-day, means actuating said read-out circuits to generate aseries of available free time slots within each of the different unequaltime periods, and concurrently displaying said free time slots for eachsuch period on the display screen, and means for cancelling each of saidprior appointments and entering a new appointment time from the freetime slots in substitute for the cancelled appointment.
 15. In the groupappointment rescheduler of claim 14, the addition of automaticallyoperating means for said read-out circuits for terminating the read-outof free time slots after locating and reading-out a single free timeslot.
 16. In the group rescheduler of claim 14, the addition of couplingmeans interconnecting said rescheduler to a remote location for enablinga remotely located user to reschedule a prior appointment.
 17. In thegroup rescheduler of claim 14, the addition of coupling meansinterconnecting said rescheduler to a telephone line for enabling aremotely located caller to reschedule a prior appointment over thetelephone, said coupling means including an audible announcer forannouncing the free time slots to the caller.
 18. In the grouprescheduler of claim 14, the addition of coupling means interconnectingsaid rescheduler to a telephone line for enabling a remotely locatedcaller to reschedule a prior appointment over the telephone,saidcoupling means including an instruction generating unit for producinginstructions over the phone line to the caller informing of theprocedure to be followed in rescheduling an appointment.